Although wheelchair lifts for vehicles are known having some of the features of this invention, there is no known wheelchair lift which combines all these features in the specific way invented herein by applicants, nor is there known a positively operating handrail for wheelchair lifts which is positively operated into both its folded unfolded positions. Previously, such handrails were operated by complicated flexible or resilient means.
This invention is an improvement over applicants' assignee's prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,527 of Messrs. Risner, Sherman and Smalley issued Oct. 2, 1984, and prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,056 to Risner issued Nov. 5, 1985. The former patent deals primarily with a gravity-operated lift comprising upper and lower telescopic frames which swing outwardly from the wall of the vehicle around an upper horizontal axis, but does not disclose a handrail, not to mention an automatically operated one. The latter patent deals primarily with an automatic handrail, but it requires a spring for its operation and therefore is not positively operated in both directions.